To keep running

21 January 2012

Having done my halfironman (see related post) which involved several half marathons in preparation I had concluded that I really did not like running.

Still, I’m quite stubborn and wanted to change this fact as running can be done anywhere (without hills in my case), with minimal equipment (suprising how much a good pair of running trainers, fluorescent top, mp3 player and water bottle can cost though) and without gym fees, so I signed up for the Paris marathon (again, not that cheap) having forgotten about the London ballot until about five minutes after it opened by which time it was full.

The theory was kill or cure, either get better at running and enjoy it, or get the desire well and truly out of my system.

My top tips for running, marathons, halfmarathons and Paris in particular:

1. Sign up for something, it really does motivate you to put in the miles. Not that you will then enjoy it but a mix of addiction to training and fear of failure might make you actually do it…
2. Do it for a good cause. I ran for cancer research and oyt south and raised over £2,000, trying to work out how much that was per mile/step/km/track kept me mentally diverted
3. Haribo may seem like great running fuel but don’t use it on all your training runs as it doesn’t help weightloss…
4. Do it somewhere scenic, Paris was wonderful for that. I would love to do London as it was my local for 12 years
5. Don’t celebrate a 30th birthday the night before an event-so this was only a halfmarathon but I could taste the sambuca for most of the run
6. If you’re going to print your own slogan don’t buy a white M&S nightshirt for the purpose, they get surprisingly clingy and see through when wet…
7. Do get your name on your tshirt, it’s great to get encouragement shouted at you, but beware 6 above 8. Paris has a great atmosphere and the parisiens are surprisingly supportive 9. A little bit of runwalk never hurt anybody
10. Paris can be very hot in April, unlike every single training run 11. Marathons are achieveable and much more fun than any of the training runs! 12. Stay somewhere close to the finish.

The result? Was i killed or cured? Neither really…I definitely want to do another because I know i can push it harder and I do get some satisfaction from shorter runs now. I will continue to enter the ballot for London, maybe doing a different one in the meantime. I’m hoping the real difference will be my triathlons where I stop dreading the running part but I haven’t signed up to one of these for a while.